


to be a hero

by andreacsenge



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Identity Reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-20 15:02:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21283643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andreacsenge/pseuds/andreacsenge
Summary: “Please, don’t tell anyone! I’ll explain everything later.”Marinette watched, head tipped backwards, as the black-clad figure vaulted over a building and disappeared out of sight. The black-clad figure, who was Chat Noir. The black-clad figure, who wasAdrien Agreste.“Marinette...?” Tikki piped up from inside her purse.She will have his goddamnedhead.Birthday gift for a dear friend. Happy birthday, Nina! <3
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 26
Kudos: 463





	to be a hero

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FauNina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FauNina/gifts).

> Based on FauNina's rant from about a week ago about how she needs (N E E D S) a fic where Adrien transforms in front of Marinette to save her, which causes her to be mad and in a crisis at the same time. Cue, confrontation.
> 
> So let it be known: the idea is 100% Nina's. I just took the liberty to write it for her. c:

“Please, don’t tell anyone! I’ll explain everything later.”

Adrien’s hands, hidden under black, magical leather, squeezed Marinette’s shoulders in a way she had no doubt he meant to be reassuring. She stared back at him, unseeing.

“Go somewhere safe,” Adrien instructed with Chat’s voice and Chat’s eyes and Chat’s concern.

And then, he was off.

Marinette watched, head tipped backwards, as the black-clad figure vaulted over a building and disappeared out of sight. The black-clad figure, who was Chat Noir. The black-clad figure, who was _Adrien Agreste._

A part of her started to come apart at the seams, threatening her with a full on panic attack over the new information she was privy to now, but her other half, covered in red and black spots, grabbed a needle and stitched the pieces of her unraveling mind together, pulling on the thread strong enough to tear.

“Marinette...?” Tikki piped up from inside her purse.

She will have his goddamned _head._

* * *

As Adrien saved Ladybug from yet _another _ minion of the akuma of the day (this time theatre-themed), he started to seriously worry. Both of them had off days, of course, but Ladybug seemed to be out of it more so than ever before. She was _acting_ reckless, and when he joked that she was stealing his _part _ in their _play,_ she didn’t even dignify him with an eyeroll. In fact, he doubted she even looked at him in the twenty or so minutes they’d been battling M. Spotlight.

Had he… had he _done _ something? His Lady didn’t make a habit of acting unreasonably—so he _had _ to have done something that earned her ire.

Was it possible that she already heard of…

...No. Marinette wasn’t like that. She wouldn’t have told anyone about his identity and he was pretty sure no one else saw him transform. Except for the akuma’s minion of course, who had been about to attack Marinette. But akuma victims and those they influenced with their powers never remembered what they’d done or seen. He was safe.

At least, he should have been.

Maybe… Ladybug _had_ said that she knew Marinette. Maybe the hero also told her about how seriously she took their secret identities? Adrien couldn’t say he and Marinette were close… they were tentative friends at best. He never tried getting to know the girl better—she seemed so scared of him, after all, and he didn’t want to stress her out by being too in-her-face about wanting to be friends. So, it was entirely possible that Marinette was way closer to Ladybug than she was to him—she could have revealed her newfound knowledge to Ladybug, being the good friend she was. One thing he was sure of, though, was that she wouldn’t have told Ladybug about his civilian identity, only that he revealed himself to her…

Oh, god.

His suspicions seemed to be confirmed when, after Ladybug cleansed the akuma and restored the city, she turned to him for the first time since they started the fight and ignoring his extended fist, fixed him with a stormy glare.

“Meet me on the start of patrol apartment building in five minutes or once your kwami has recharged.”

Hand faltering in the air, Adrien opened his mouth to ask her why, but Ladybug turned on her heel and swung away.

Well.

* * *

Marinette had practically force fed Tikki four macarons (her kwami giving her displeased but ultimately understanding looks throughout), and now, four minutes later, she was on top of a nondescript apartment building as Ladybug, pacing back and forth between two ventilation pipes.

Her partner and years-long friend was the very same boy she had been crushing on since they started lycée. This, in and of itself, was already insane. More importantly, her partner, years-long friend and crush since lycée was apparently reckless enough to transform in plain sight. Right in front of her. Right in front of a _civilian._

What was he _thinking? _ He didn’t know Marinette and Ladybug was one and the same! As far as he knew, he transformed in front of a classmate he wasn’t even really friends with. (And okay, that kind of hurt. Ouch.) How could he trust a civilian not to _immediately _ go around telling his secret to everyone in sight? How could he trust the best friend of the _Ladyblog’s editor _ not to run to Alya with the scoop?

Adrien was trusting like that. Chat Noir was reckless like that. This apparently added up and made them—_him_—dumb like you wouldn’t believe.

What. Was. He. _Thinking?_

There was the sound of someone landing on the roof behind her.

“...Ladybug?”

She spun around to face him. To face Chat. To face Adrien.

“What were you _thinking?_ ” she echoed her thoughts aloud and ignored the slight widening of his eyes. “How could you be so careless, Chat? I _told _ you why keeping our identities secret is so important. I told you! And I thought you agreed!”

“My Lady—”

“Don’t ‘my lady’ me!” she said, cutting him off. “I’m mad at you! We both have done our best to keep our civilian and superhero identities separate, and you decide to just go and pretty much transform in public? What were you thinking! _Anyone _ could have seen you! And someone did!”

_I did,_ she added mentally, just about panting from her outburst. She searched Chat’s face, looking for a reaction. She didn’t know what she was expecting. She didn’t know what she was hoping for. Anger, to match hers? Regret, to appease her?

Neither came.

Chat closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and stepped closer to her, hands held out in front of him as if she were a wild animal to calm down. “Ladybug... I’m sorry if what I did upsets you. I am. But I’m not sorry for doing it. Yes, it was reckless and yes, maybe I didn’t think it through. But I would do it again if I had to.” 

“Why?! What could _possibly _ even make you _consider _ doing something like that again?!”

He shot her a look, so unlike him that she felt her breath hitch, the last syllable dying in her throat.

Ladybug and Chat Noir were equals. They listened to each other, they called the other out on their bullshit. They told each other if the other was being unreasonable. This look was different.

Chat was _disappointed _ in her.

“I’m supposed to be a _hero,_” he said, eyes boring into hers. “If I hadn’t transformed, my friend could have seriously gotten hurt! I did what I had to, and I don’t regret it.”

She stared back at him, the words _my friend _ bouncing around in her skull.

His jaw set. He’d misinterpreted her silence.

“I care about Marinette,” he said, delivering the second blow. “She might be a little bit scared of my civilian identity, but she’s one of the first friends I’ve _ever _ made. Her safety is important to me!”

He stepped back and raked his claws through his hair, fingers catching on the cat ears. His eyes were greener than she had ever seen them be.

“I might not know you in the traditional sense of the word,” he continued, face open and voice raw, “but I do know you in others. You cannot tell me you _wouldn’t _ save a friend. A family member! That mystery boy you’re crushing on! Just because it would _compromise _ your _identity._”

His eyes flickered away from her wide, staring gaze, but pressed his lips together and looked back barely a moment later.

“I understand why you want to keep our identities secret, even from each other,” he said, sure of himself like she had never seen before. “But I refuse to be a hero who puts his identity first and saving someone second.”

Marinette had always known that her partner was a good person. She had always known that Adrien was, too. But, in this moment, she was looking at him in an entirely new light. This boy, who so often had doubts about whether or not he deserved his miraculous, this boy, who compared himself to her and, impossibly, found himself lacking… He was more of a hero than she could ever hope to be.

And she loved him for it.

She watched, uncomprehending, as the Chat from a moment ago crumbled away, replaced with wide eyes, an open jaw and a blush that peeked out from under the collar of his suit and steadily rose to cover his neck, his cheeks, the tops of his ears.

“What is it?” she asked, confused by the sudden change.

He floundered. “You—uh, you…”

“I… what?”

“You—said—”

She said… ah. Oops. Did she... say that out loud? She evidently did. Hm.

“Hahaha… I think I have to go, right now, immediately, for unrelated reasons,” she said, hands trembling as she grabbed her yoyo to swing home. She was already in the air when she tackled on, “Bye, Adrien! See you in class tomorrow,” ignorant to the detransformation that happened right after she uttered his name.

* * *

Adrien stared at Ladybug’s retreating back, unable to lift his jaw from the concrete of the roof.

“What a bomb to drop!” Plagg cackled beside his ear. “I like this one. I say we keep her.”

**Author's Note:**

> Credit where credit is due: the line "I have to go, right now, immediately, for unrelated reasons" is from a fic titled [Nino Has Done Nothing To Deserve This.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15597090/chapters/36212475) It's a fun fic, check it out! :)


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